The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has launched a major consultation on changes to the UK designs framework.

The consultation follows a call for views earlier this year (on which we commented here) which indicated that the IPO was reviewing all aspects of the UK designs framework to make sure that it was “modern, accessible and fit for the digital age”.

What is clear from the consultation is that many are of the view that the framework is none of these things: the IPO talks of the designs system “facing significant challenges”, constituting a “complex patchwork that many find difficult to navigate”, and being ill-equipped to protect emerging forms of design as technology progresses.

Tackling such significant challenges requires more than a few tweaks at the edges: the consultation is far more comprehensive than most and addresses a considerable number of areas, centred around what the Government identifies as five key objectives:

1. Improving the validity of registered designs through targeted measures such as novelty checks and bad faith provisions.
2. Simplifying the regime, making it more accessible and easier to understand.
3. Addressing issues relating to unregistered designs, providing greater legal clarity for businesses.
4. Ensuring the framework adequately protects emerging forms of design, including virtual and animated designs.
5. Exploring how the system should respond to computer-generated designs in an era of advanced AI.

Specific proposals that are explored include matters such as introducing powers so that the ICO can investigate and object to designs which hare suspected of lacking novelty and individual character; introducing a specific deferment provision in law; amending legislation to clarify that animations and transitional designs can be registered in their own right; and reforming or removing the existing protection for computer-generated designs without a human author.

The Government encourages “all stakeholders – from individual designers and small businesses to large enterprises and legal experts – to engage with this consultation and help shape a designs system that supports British creativity and innovation for years to come”.

The consultation closes on 27 November 2025, and can be read in full here.